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Alex Steen

Injury Notes: Steen, Fabbri, Vigneault, Parise

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As we mentioned this morning, the St. Louis Blues have suffered another potentially dramatic injury after Alex Steen was ruled out of the rest of training camp with a hand injury. Like Jay Bouwmeester yesterday, Steen will be re-evaluated in three weeks, which likely means the start of the season is out of the question. The veteran forward is a big part of the Blues’ offensive presence, and will be sorely missed.

Since Zach Sanford, one of the potential replacements for Steen in the top-six is already out for several months, the team will have to look elsewhere to fill his two-way role. An interesting option would be Ivan Barbashev, who impressed the Blues’ brass in his 30-game stint last year. Scoring 12 points as a rookie, Barbashev has some of the same versatility that Steen brings and can move in and out of several roles. Still, losing another key player is a tough way to begin any campaign.

  • There was some good news for the Blues though, as Robby Fabbri is coming along right on schedule from the ACL surgery that ended his 2016-17 prematurely. Head Coach Mike Yeo told reporters, including Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Fabbri has a little bit of pain but nothing to worry about. He was given a couple of extra days before making his preseason debut, but expects to play in four exhibition contests. Fabbri was our “Player To Watch” in the recent St. Louis Primer, and could take a big step forward into stardom this season. The 21-year old has excellent offensive talent, and could very well finish the year among the team leaders in points if he can stay healthy.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets made some cuts today from their training camp roster, but will also be without Sam Vigneault for the next four to six weeks through no fault of his own. The young NCAA signing that made his professional debut last year in the AHL broke his finger, and will have to delay the start of his 2017-18 campaign. Vigneault only had an outside shot at cracking the Blue Jackets roster out of camp, but could potentially be an injury call-up during the year should he show the same combination of power and skill that he exhibited at Clarkson University.
  • Michael Russo of The Athletic caught up with Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher today, who reported that Zach Parise is “skating and progressing daily” after being held out of practice with a back injury. Parise has had issues with his back for years, but it doesn’t seem serious enough to jeopardize much of the season.

Central Notes: Subban, Josi, Ellis, Steen, Fabbri

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Proving that defense is the key to a Stanley Cup Finals run, the NHL Network released its list of top 20 defensemen in the NHL and the Nashville Predators were stocked full of them. They had the most blueliners on the list, including P.K. Subban (#6), Roman Josi (#7) and Ryan Ellis (#19).

Subban, coming off his first year with the Predators after being traded from Montreal, had a solid season even though his numbers dropped from his previous three years with the Canadiens. Subban finished with 10 goals and 30 assists for the year, but made the all-star team and proved to be a pest to every team’s top scorers.

Josi’s season was also down from previous years, but his numbers also stood out with 12 goals and 37 assists, giving him three straight years with 49 points or more. Ellis leaped into the spotlight this year as he took his game to another level this year with a career high in goals with 16. He also had 11 power play points, three game-winning goals and led the team with 137 blocked shots.

Of course, Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson was first on the list, but only a couple other teams had more than one player on the top-20 list. With the addition of Kevin Shattenkirk (#15), the New York Rangers had two defensemen on the list with Ryan McDonagh at #17. The Calgary Flames also boasted two blueliners in the top 20, Dougie Hamilton (#16) and Mark Giordano (#18).

  • In his final column, the St. Louis Post Dispatch’s Jim Rutherford writes that while the talk is that Alex Steen has regressed over the past couple of years, he believes that the 33-year-old wing has been cast in the wrong role. He believes that Steen’s 33-goal season in 2013-14 was an anomaly and he should not be considered as a 30-goal scorer. If looked at from a 20-goal scoring point of view, Steen’s numbers (33 goals in the last two seasons) make more sense.
  • Rutherford in the same piece adds that he does not believe any of the Blues top prospects, Klim Kostin, Jordan Kyrou or Tage Thompson, have much of a chance of breaking with the Blues after training camp. He said Kostin is still recovering from an injury and just moved to the U.S. a couple of months ago. Kyrou is ticketed to go back to his junior team, while Thompson struggled adjusting to the AHL.
  • Rutherford adds that Robby Fabbri is expected to be ready for training camp after tearing his ACL. He believes he will start the season off as the team’s center, but if the team is not scoring enough, he could easily see Fabbri forced to move back to the wing position.

Inactive Blues Hoping For Different Results

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The St. Louis Blues were one of the most inactive teams this summer, right alongside the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks. With their relative success in a difficult Central division, it’s easy to understand why they didn’t make too many seismic transactions. Still, they had a moderate backslide in points last season despite making it to the second round. With only 99 points, they easily could have found themselves on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. The team’s only major move this off-season was trading Jori Lehtera for Brayden Schenn, by most accounts a trade they came out on top. Still, did the Blues need to be more aggressive?

The team has one of the most consistently underrated defensemen in Alex Pietrangelo, and Colton Parayko behind him is no slouch. After that, however, the pickings on defense are rather uninspiring. Jay Bouwmeester still logs substantial time on ice, with a 22:24 average, but there are signs his play is starting to slip. His last four seasons have been negative possession seasons (relative Corsi), and his offensive game has completely dried up. He only scored one goal to accompany his 14 assists last season. Furthermore, age is starting to catch up to him in terms of footspeed. He’ll be 35 this season, and that issue isn’t going to get any better in the years to come. Carl Gunnarsson only saw sheltered time last year, with just over 13 minutes a night against weaker competition. Robert Bortuzzo is a 6th defenseman at best and Joel Edmundson has work to round out his game if he wants to solidify himself as a top-four defender. Ultimately, the team needs defensive help, especially when the team will be up against the likes of the Blackhawks and Stars on a regular basis.

The offense is deep but undeniably overly reliant on Vladimir Tarasenko. Paul Stastny is looking nowhere near worth his contract, and Alex Steen has to slow down at some point in the near future. Jaden Schwartz is primed to have another solid 50+ point season, but if the bodies around him again struggle with consistency it could be an uphill endeavor. Robby Fabbri is another player to watch, as the former first-rounder looks to put together a solid, healthy campaign. The aforementioned addition of Schenn is valuable, but the team could arguably have done more to bring fresh blood in. The team is really banking on Vladimir Sobotka to prove his worth, but there is still the risk of him not producing. He’s never topped 10 goals in an NHL season, after all. Ivan Barbashev looks very promising, but he’s still somewhat of an unknown entity at this point. Ultimately, the team lacks a proven, go-to offensive threat behind Tarasenko Whereas other teams in the division have exceptional one-two punches, the Blues are still hoping to develop theirs fully.

There were available names this offseason to be had if GM Doug Armstrong was willing to make the moves. An Alexander Radulov, for example, would have done wonders to ease some of the pressure from Tarasenko. There are still names available, though, such as Thomas Vanek and Jaromir Jagr up front. On defense, not much remains at this late date. A trade would really be the only sensible option. The team is still relatively undersized up front and overtaxes the top defenders. Cap space was undoubtedly an issue, as at $72.57 MM currently there was little room to maneuver. Still, moving out a larger contract like Stastny’s or Bouwmeester’s might have cleared room to add an important piece or two. The Blues lost Kevin Shattenkirk at the deadline, and it remains to be seen how his absence will affect the team over the course of a full year. The coaching staff behind Mike Yeo did phenomenal work to bring the team back into contention, but stagnation can often cost teams who are on the bubble. It will be interesting to see if Armstrong remains quiet this off-season, or opts for an additional move before the season’s start.

Blues Snapshots: Steen, Parayko, AHL, Fabbri

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Don’t be surprised if the St. Louis Blues move on from Alex Steen, eventually. While St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Rutherford answered questions on the newspaper’s website, he added that while he’d be surprised to see Steen moved at this point in the offseason, he wouldn’t be shocked if the Blues were to look into trading him at the trade deadline next year or in the offseason.

The 33-year-old Steen’s new contract that he signed last offseason will be kicking in this year. He signed a four-year, $23MM contract and while his production has been consistently solid over the last couple of years (33 goals and 70 assists combined in last two years), the veteran is suddenly beginning to get in the way of the Blues massing core of young wingers, including Vladimir Tarasenko (25), Jaden Schwartz (25), Dmitrij Jaskin (24), Robby Fabbri (21 — although he could move to center next season — see below), Oskar Sundqvist (23) and Beau Bennett (25).

Rutherford adds the team still needs a veteran like Steen to provide the leadership to the youth, but there will be a point in which the team will be confident in its young wingers that it’s unlikely he’ll finish out his contract in St. Louis.

  • In the same piece, Rutherford writes that he expects young defenseman Colton Parayko to step up this season for the Blues and become the star defenseman they were hoping for. While his goals scored dropped from nine to four last year, his points still went up, finishing with 35 points compared to 33 two years ago. The scribe writes that with Kevin Shattenkirk finally gone, Parayko should be able to raise his scoring numbers and develop into a No. 1 defenseman.
  • Rutherford also writes that with the team agreeing to AHL agreements with the Chicago Wolves (Vegas’ affiliate) and the San Antonio Rampage (Colorado’s affiliate), the team will send prospects to either team, but are likely to have little say about playing time for their prospects. Both Vegas and Colorado will be putting a priority on their own prospects, leaving any Blues prospects to force their way into playing time.
  • Former 2014 first-rounder Fabbri is currently penciled in as the team’s third-line center behind Paul Stastny and new acquisition Brayden Schenn. However, if they feel he is ready to put up a big season, Rutherford writes that it is likely he’ll be moved up to be a wing on the second line and force Steen to move to the right side.

 

Injury Updates: Klefbom, Ducks, Blues, Barrie, Rieder, Schmaltz

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Edmonton will get back a key player on their blueline tonight as they get set for their Game Seven matchup against Anaheim as Oscar Klefbom has declared himself “100 percent ready to go tonight”, writes Marc Ciampa of the Oilers’ team site.  He missed the last game due to an upper body issue.

On the other side, Ciampa notes the Ducks will have center Nate Thompson in their lineup.  His status was in question after the team recalled Sam Carrick from AHL San Diego on Tuesday.  Defenseman Kevin Bieksa’s situation isn’t as clear though, as head coach Randy Carlyle is listing him as a game-time decision.  Bieksa suffered a lower body in the series opener against the Oilers and has been out of the lineup since then.

Other injury notes from around the hockey world:

  • Although there was speculation that Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko needed surgery, that isn’t the case, notes Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While the forward noted that he has been playing through an undisclosed injury, he expects it to heal over the coming weeks with rest.  On a similar note, Alex Steen’s broken toe that he played through also won’t require going under the knife.
  • Colorado blueliner Tyson Barrie will miss the rest of the World Championships with a lower body, Team Canada announced via Twitter.  The exact nature of the injury is unknown but the Avalanche added (Twitter link) that he is expected to fully recover for his offseason workouts.  The defenseman was off to a torrid start on the scoresheet, leading all defenders in scoring with seven points through four games.  Although the Canadians won’t be able to replace him on the roster, they will certainly benefit from the late addition of Colton Parayko, who was added into a vacant roster slot yesterday.
  • Coyotes winger Tobias Rieder also will miss the remainder of the Worlds after sustaining a lower body injury against Russia on Monday. Fortunately for Arizona, the injury isn’t believed to be too serious, reports ArizonaSports’ Craig Morgan.  Rieder is expected to undergo further testing in the coming days.  It’s the second straight year that a lower body injury has ended his tournament early as back in 2016, he suffered a knee injury against Canada in the preliminary round.
  • Still with the Worlds, USA (and Chicago) forward Nick Schmaltz may be ready to return to the lineup on Saturday against Latvia, notes NHL.com’s Brian Hedger (Twitter link). He was also injured on Monday on a hit from Sweden’s Gabriel Landeskog and was held out of their game against Italy today, which they won 3-0.

Injury Updates: Shaw, Steen, Cogliano

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Injury notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • Helene Elliott of the LA Times reports that the Anaheim Ducks will be without forward Logan Shaw tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. The Ducks say that Shaw is out with a lower-body injury. Shaw is without a point in his nine playoff games so far, averaging 9:30min a game. The undrafted forward misses this morning’s morning skate, as reported by CBS Sports, but his absence was not confirmed until just before puck drop.
  • St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Jeremy Rutherford reported that forward Alexander Steen broke his foot in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, yet continued to play through the injury. The injury became too much for Steen, however, and he had to sit out Games 5 and 6. Despite the injury, Steen scored 3G and 4A to place second in Blues playoff scoring this season. The Blues may still be playing had Steen not suffered the injury, but the playoffs are a war of attrition, and most teams end up losing a key player for stretches at a time.
  • Anaheim Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano took a hard elbow from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Eric Gryba early in the first period tonight. Cogliano received some brief medical attention after bleeding all over the ice, raising concerns that he may have suffered a serious injury. Despite the blood, however, Cogliano returned mere minutes later, and his iron man streak—currently at 786 games—remains intact. Not only did Cogliano return, but he managed to get into a fight with Edmonton’s Drake Caggiula.

Injury Updates: Murray, Steen, Bozak, Sekera

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While Marc-Andre Fleury is off to a strong start this postseason, the Penguins could soon have a decision to make between the pipes as starter Matt Murray skated for over an hour on Friday and appears to be getting closer to being able to return to the lineup, notes Alex Iniguez of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  The 22 year old suffered a lower body injury in the warmup of Pittsburgh’s postseason opener and hasn’t played since.

It’s the exact opposite situation compared to last season where Fleury was hurt when the playoffs started and Murray took over the starting role.  Presumably, even if Murray is able to return, it’s hard to imagine that they’d look away from Fleury who has a strong .935 save percentage this postseason.

Other injury notes from around the league:

  • St. Louis left winger Alex Steen missed his first game of the playoffs on Friday night with a lower body injury. Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Steen has been in a walking boot since being injured in their postseason opener against the Wild and that he was on crutches on Friday, hardly a good sign for his potential availability in another elimination game on Sunday afternoon.
  • Toronto center Tyler Bozak was playing with a lingering back issue down the stretch and into the playoffs, reports Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. Bozak noted that it caused him to miss several practices and game day skates although he was able to stay in the lineup for the most part, skating in 78 regular season games as well as all six playoff contests.
  • Edmonton blueliner Andrej Sekera left Friday’s game against Anaheim with what’s believed to be a lower body injury sustained on a hit from Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf. Ryan Frankson of the Oilers’ team website notes that there was no update on his condition following the game nor is there a timetable for his return.  With Sekera going down in the first period, fellow Adam Larsson had to pick up a big chunk of the slack, logging just shy of 45 minutes in their 4-3 double overtime defeat.

Injury Notes: Goalie Pads, Stastny, Dumba

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Since February 4th, every goaltender in the league has had to wear the new tighter fitting pants in games. While some goalies like Robin Lehner and Pekka Rinne have come out in favor of the new style, others are having difficulty adjusting. Eric Engels of Sportsnet spoke to both Carey Price and Al Montoya about them, who told him they are considering sending pictures of the new bruises they’ve suffered because of the lack of protection. Price in particular showed Engels that he got hit in the inside of his thigh with a shot, where there is almost no protection.

While it’s unclear if the two would actually send the pictures, it is a concern as the league moves forward with smaller equipment. With shots becoming harder and harder in the game, and players moving at a faster pace, protection of goaltenders is still a huge point of contention for the NHL and NHLPA. While the league (and many players) wants higher scoring and believe that reducing equipment would help that, safety is still of a high importance. When a player of Price’s caliber speaks out, the player’s union is sure to listen.

Robby Fabbri Out For Entire Season With ACL Injury

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After reporting that Robby Fabbri left last night’s game with an apparent leg injury, the St. Louis Blues have announced today that he will miss the rest of the season with an injured ACL in his left knee. The team has recalled Magnus Paajarvi and Kenny Agostino from the Chicago Wolves in a corresponding move.

Fabbri took a check from the Penguins’ Carter Rowney in the first period, slamming into the boards just in front of the Blues’ bench. He needed assistance to get off the ice and was in obvious pain, as he was heard yelling on the broadcast.

As we wrote yesterday, losing Fabbri is a big hit for St. Louis, who were trying to turn around their early season struggles. They would lose 4-1 to the Penguins last night, unable to build on their big win against the Maple Leafs on Thursday. For a team sitting at 55 points and just barely out of a playoff spot, losing a top forward can completely change the complexion of a season.

Already expected to deal expiring contracts in Kevin Shattenkirk and Patrik Berglund, it will be interesting to see how another injury like this one will affect the way the team views the trade deadline. Other players like David Perron, Paul Stastny or even Alex Steen would be attractive pieces to many teams if the Blues could make the salaries work (which will be difficult, as all three come with significant cap-hits).

The Blues were expected to be a contender for the Stanley Cup once again but are having a nightmarish season. Between Jake Allen’s struggles, nagging injuries, the Ken Hitchcock circus and now the end to Fabbri’s year, the team may want to put this year in their rear-view mirror.

Snapshots: Burns, Ramo, Pouliot, Steen

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The Sharks and pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Brent Burns are making progress on a contract extension, reports ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun (Twitter link).  He does, however, note that the deal is not yet done.  LeBrun also adds in a follow-up tweet that there are still some deals to be ironed out but that lots of progress has been made.  Speculatively, one of the areas that likely would be getting worked on is the amount of no-trade or no-move protection and how it may vary – if at all – over the life of the contract.

Last season, Burns finished second in points among all NHL defensemen with 75 while he averaged just shy of 26 minutes per game.  He’s off to another strong start this season with seven goals and nine assists in 19 games; his 16 points lead all blueliners.

Back in September, we took a closer look at his contract situation and suggested that he could be in line for a seven year extension with an AAV of $7.875MM.

Other news from around the league:

  • Unrestricted free agent goaltender Karri Ramo is close to receiving the green light from doctors to return to game action, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link). Ramo is currently skating with the Maple Leafs but does not have a contract, similar to UFA left winger Brandon Prust.  While the goalie market has been quiet as of late with Andrew Hammond passing through waivers, Ramo could draw some attention as potentially a cheaper option for teams.  He could also take a minor league deal to get in some game action and showcase himself to potential teams that way.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins have assigned defenseman Derrick Pouliot to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL on a conditioning stint, the team announced. The former first round pick has spent the bulk of the season on injured reserve with a lower body injury and last played on October 21st, his lone game of the season.  The Penguins plan to play him in three minor league contests and then be re-evaluated by team doctors next week.
  • Blues forward Alex Steen is not with the team on their two-game road trip although the team hasn’t ruled him out of playing the second game on Wednesday in Washington, writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  He has missed the last two games with concussion-like symptoms (though the team is stressing that it’s not a concussion).  Steen has two goals and eight assists through 17 games this season.

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